The United States office sector hit a record vacancy rate of 20.1 percent in the second quarter of 2024. Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Denver, San Francisco and Chicago were among the large metro areas showing vacancy growth.
How to turn the tide? It begins with institutional and commercial facilities conducting a comprehensive facility space assessment. That’s the way to zero in on the discrepancies between current use and potential optimization, according to Chris Barns, vice president of real property consulting at R&K Solutions.
In other words, take an accurate inventory first.
“It would surprise you how many (companies) aren’t aware of that,” says Barns, who has 40 years of experience in the field. “That’s the starting point. Then it’s understanding what your goals are. Are they to consolidate? Reorganize? That ensures capturing the right information.”
Barns said many of R&K’s clients — in sectors such as government, higher education, healthcare and commercial real estate — have large portfolios of space, which can make the inventory process daunting. But once an assessment is underway, inefficiencies can be identified and then strategies developed.
If facility managers think that there must be a technological piece to this, they are right.
“If you’re trying to do all of this just with spreadsheets, you’ll have a difficult time,” Barns says. “You need to get your space into a software solution. The data becomes a lot more accurate, and it’s an up-to-date way to manage space. You can make much quicker decisions and then use it to allocate space.”
Space assessments need to be an annual process, he says, because of rapid changes in the work environment. For example, with a dramatic increase in remote work, the same amount of space may be needed, just less frequently and for varying purposes.
Often, organizations — and facilities managers — can lean on their information technology and human resources departments for input about space and staffing.
“Facilities managers need to have a handle on the process of collecting data,” Barns says. “What data do they need to collect? How will they collect and maintain it? How is it going to be used? The foundational piece is having a good handle on your space and who’s using it.”
R&K delivered a variety of services and software to Carilion Clinic, a regional healthcare organization in Roanoke, Virginia. The work enabled Carilion to make more effective use of property and facilities information, improving operations and guiding investment decisions.
Maps, floor plans, property inventory, fire and safety information, hazardous materials locations, energy data and capital planning data are now consolidated in a single platform at Carilion. R&K assessed the condition of 1 million square feet of hospital and medical office buildings, quantifying and forecasting costs for deferred maintenance and capital renewal. The result: a prioritized, multiyear budget to assist in capital planning.
Data is readily available through rapid searches and automated reports. Analytics and key performance indicators provide insights about Carilion’s facilities operations and aid in identifying opportunities for cost savings. Executive managers may quickly gauge performance by viewing dashboards. Information is now broadly available, providing value to a wide spectrum of users, from the technician in the field to the C-suite.
“In healthcare, spaces change often,” Barns says. “Keeping up with that is extremely important, in order to make accurate decisions on space utilization.”
Doug Carroll is a freelance writer based in Chandler, Arizona.
